


Superheroes Are Real

by Layla_Crimson



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cameo by Big and Green, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kid Peter Parker, tony stark mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 16:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11383893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Layla_Crimson/pseuds/Layla_Crimson
Summary: Peter Parker grew up while superheroes started to emerge on the scene.  As a child he saw the press conferences, the alien invasions, and all that crazy things.  Inspired by a gif set found here http://mamalaz.tumblr.com/post/162403751577/peter-parker-idolising-iron-man-before-civil-war





	1. I am Iron Man

Peter nearly tripped over his feet in the rush to get to the couch and the remote for the TV.  “Peter, no running inside,” May’s voice floated after him.  “Sorry Aunt May,” he called back as he flipped on the TV.  Rapidly he changed the channels until he found the news. After the reports and speculations of the robot battle in California splashed all over the news, he nearly vibrated in place waiting to watch SI’s press conference.  Okay let’s face it, Tony Stark’s press conference.

“Ben,” May whispered in an urgent tone, grabbing his arm to get his attention.  “He’s watching the news, again.  What kid his age watches the news?”  She cast a worried look over at her nephew.  She’d taken the young boy into her heart even though when they first met, she was fairly young as an adult.  In a way, finishing growing up herself while helping to raise Peter, not that she regretted even a minute of it.

“Relax, he’ll be fine. This all started with Tony Stark coming back from being captured by terrorists.  I think it’s a good thing.”  He gestured in the direction of the TV, ”The guy is trying to take some responsibility and it helps show Peter that the bad guys don’t always win.  I think that’s important for him.”

“Yeah, it’s important for me,” the young verse chimed in.  Twisted around on the couch to face them, Peter grinned unrepentantly.  “It helps me develop my morals, listening skills and cognitive development.”

Ben snorted moving over to tickle his nephew reducing the kid to giggles.  “Stop reading your Aunt’s parenting books brainiac.  We’ll go get you some better books from the library okay?”

“Okay, okay! I promise!” Peter nearly shrieked with giggles.

Finally his uncle let him go, helping him sit back up on the couch.  “Okay kiddo, now watch your news.”

Leaving Peter on the couch he moved back over to May, who couldn’t quite hide her fond smile.  “See he’s fine.  Just needs a bit of a challenge.”  He wrapped an arm around his wife and gave her a hug from behind as they both watched their nephew being absorbed by the different reports.

“I just don’t want him to get all worried about things; he worries about enough for a kid.”

He gently squeezed her. “And if this doesn’t help, we’ll redirect him to something else.”  

She gently slapped his arm. “Now who’s reading my parenting books?”

On the couch, Peter ignored his Aunt and Uncle, as they finally started showing the press conference. Tony stark seemed a little stiffer than before, apparently reading off some cards.  Then one of the reporters interrupted him, rude.   Yet the question hung out there.  Were they really supposed to believe this was some sort of body guard of Tony’s Starks?  He held his breath.

_“The truth is . . I am Iron Man.”_

One small boy positively lit up at the news.  “Whoa . . “ This was so much cooler than some comic books, because this was real and now.

“Aunt May Uncle Ben look,  _look_!   He twisted around to face them again.  “Tony Stark’s a  _superhero_!”  Excitedly he pointed back at the TV as the reporters seemed to be going nuts.  “Superheroes are  _real_ , its  _ **awesome**_!”


	2. Nice work kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iron Man 2, Stark Expo, Attack of the Hammeroids

Bed time in the Parker household a fairly sedate affair normally, but not so much tonight.  May watched her nephew running around in the toy helmet he modified, (don’t ask her how he managed that one,) refusing it take it off.  “Peter, honey, you can’t wear the mask to bed.”  She did her best to try and stifle the laughter that bubbled up at his exuberance.

“But it’s got a night light.”  He protested, as if this would magically fix any concern she might have.  Really Peter felt pride in what he managed to adapt and add to the simple toy.  Uncle Ben took him on a scavenging run in some thrift shops and in a junkyard and he found everything he needed.  Now it had light up eyes and he almost finished the gloves.  

“Look, take the mask off now, finish getting ready for bed, and tomorrow you can wear it to the Expo,” May bargained.

Peter stilled his frenetic movement staring at her wide eyed through the mask.  “Really really?  Gloves too?”

“Really really,” May smiled and stuck out her hand to shake.  “Gloves too, now deal?”

“Deal!” Peter shook her hand with enthusiasm before pulling the mask off and racing to his room.  She sighed, one battle at a time.

* * * * *

It had taken Ben a bit of wrangling, some late nights and trading of favors but he managed not only to score the tickets, but also get the night off so he could take Peter. Just the two of them, he might have managed to get three, but May turned him down saying it would be good bonding time for the pair.  Plus she was happy enough to get a night to herself and let Ben handle the hyper-excited Stark fan masquerading as their nephew.

At first everything went fairly smoothly.  Peter urged Ben along, pointing out various things and rattling off facts and information. How the kid kept all that information in his head a minor mystery to him.  He made a mental note to check into some more extra classes for him.  Maybe pick up a couple of projects that would keep that scientific brain engaged and out of trouble.

Being on the small size for his age, the crowd gave Peter a little bit of trouble seeing everything that he needed to.  Ben put an arm around the anxious kid, before hoisting him up higher to Peter’s delight. He’d all too soon be too big for either adult to do this, or for the kid to let him.  So he’d enjoy this moment while he could.  Besides it was worth any tired muscles when his nephew got an excellent view of Iron Man arriving.

That is of course when all hell broke loose.  Shots sounded and glass rained down on the crowd as it started to panic and stampede towards the exits.  Ben kept a tight grip on Peter as he worked on getting them both away from the source of his danger.  Forced to put him down at the door, he held on to the boy’s hand.  Difficult to do when everyone pushed and shoved, each frantic to get away from the shooting and the advancing armed drones.

Then it happened. Someone stumbled and fell into Ben causing both to tumble to the ground and loose his grip on Peter’s hand. Frantically he scrambled up.  “Peter!”  

The boy had been swallowed by the crowd.

-

Peter was in so much trouble.  He knew that his aunt and uncle would want him to keep heading towards the exit, but how could he when his hero was in trouble?  Also, he neither knew where the exit was and Iron Man was being chased by more robots all over the place.  Technically there might not be a safe spot.  

Having been watching the TV, he saw the reports of the fight in Monaco, or even the reports about the party. Neither adult wanted him to see that report.  The channel got rather quickly changed.  Still if his hero was struggling, than he had to do his part.  Plus they said if you stood up to bullies, most of the time they would just back down.

Everyone else was running away.  Peter stood his ground.  

The crowd thinned out, people running around him and a part of him wondered if this is what being in a stampede would be like.  He didn’t have long to contemplate it before one of the robots clomped to a stomp right in front of him.  Curiously enough, even though the damaged these things dealt out rained down around him, he didn’t feel afraid.  Instead he simply lifted his hand, palm out like he saw his hero do as it aimed a gun on its back in his direction.

There was a clunk as something large and heavy landed behind him.  The robot shifted his regard and not even a second later a blast shot over Peter and into the armed drone.  Jumping back he gaped under the helmet, both thrilled and astonished.  

“Nice work kid.”

Iron Man just told him nice work.

Best. Night. Ever.

Of course when his uncle found him and they got home and he got grounded not so much fun but it was worth it.  He proved he could stand up for himself, and for his hero.


	3. New York City Invasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers movie 2012

“Honestly do you guys even  _know_  what they put in those hot dogs?”  May cheerfully complained as Peter and Ben cheerfully chowed down on their treats.

Slinging an arm around his wife, Ben couldn’t help but to take a chomp in her direction as Peter laughed. “Ever hear ignorance is bliss Aunt May? It tastes good, why should it matter? One person’s delicacy goes down another’s garbage disposal.”

With a sigh she reached over to ruffle his hair.  “Alright tough guy, I’ll remember that the next time you turn your nose up at my cookies.”

Ben started to comment as something high up caught his attention.  Frowning he studied the skies.  “Hey brainiac, you’re the Stark fan, is something special supposed to be going on today?”

Peter shoved the rest of the hot dog in his mouth as he looked up.  His eyebrows lowered as he chewed, studying the blue light that speared up through the sky.  A roughly circular inky shape started to spread in the air above Stark Tower.  He swallowed to clear his mouth.  “No, the arc reactor activation was days ago. That wasn’t supposed to do anything but power the building.”  He squinted. “Is that, is there something coming from it?”

The trio stared upwards as black specks seemed to emerge and spread from the undulating back circle. When the larger whale like shape emerged and the explosions erupted Ben Parker had only one thought on his mind. Get his family to safety.  “Run!”

Turning, the adults each put a hand on Peter, keeping him between them as they started to flee the disaster forming behind them.  The sounds of explosions mixed with screams and the sounds of some sort of alien weapon quickly filled the air.  They didn’t get far before the aliens overtook their position, and chaos swirled even more thickly.

Instead of just running, Ben looked for a place for them to hide.  There wouldn’t be a safe spot soon.  Not on foot.   Not with the buildings being attacked.  The cries of injured people needing help tore at him, but his family came first.  Finally he spotted it, as the navigated through debris and fire.  A small place for them to take shelter, not as big or flashy as the buildings the creatures were attacking.  “Here!”

Carefully he guided May and Peter into it, tucking them inside the small shelter.  “Peter, look after your Aunt.”

“Ben no!”  She read his intention before he started to pull away, grabbing at his hand.  

“May I have to, you know I do.  People out there need help; I can’t turn my back on that.”

“I can help!”  Peter started to scramble forward only to be stopped as Ben put his hand up.  

“No, I need you stay here and protect May for me okay?  If I know you two are looking out for each other, than I can help other people, understand?”  He gave the youth a stern look.

Peter’s chin quivered, before he nodded and let Aunt May pull him back into her arms.

“Be careful.”  She cast a worried look in his direction.

“Always am.”  Leaning forward he pressed a kiss first to the top of Peter’s head, and then briefly to May’s lips.  “Stay safe, keep your heads down, and if trouble comes you run, understand me?”

Some might have said that he should stay with them, made sure they stayed safe.  But he knew his May, and he knew Peter.  Knew that the two of them were smart and could take care of each other.  So many other people out there couldn’t, or wouldn’t.  So he dove back into the dust and chaos to help those that needed it.

They could see a bit of the sky from their hiding spot.  A rather good view if one could call it that of the chaos erupting into their city.  Lighting that suddenly lit up, trying to cage the things from coming out of it.  He saw the red and gold streak across the sky.  Iron Man coming to defend the City.  Roaring and a green shape tickled Peter’s memory; the Hulk was on the scene. They actually saw him once, charging past their hiding spot crushing a couple of the aliens that got close to them.

A new sound filtered through the screams and destruction.  A low rumble that caught Peter’s attention and he turned his head trying to stand up as May tightened her grip on him.  “Peter stay down!”

A slim lethal shape swum through the sky, the red and gold bright dot that he identified as Iron Man came up under its belly.  The missile, for that is what it was started to tilt up.  Despite May’s protests he stood up to better watch as it shot up towards the black hole in the sky.  The lightening bracketing it stopped and they slipped inside.  “Come on, come on, come on,” Peter chanted softly.

Both of them were out there, his two heroes.  His uncle on the streets trying to save who he could and Iron Man guided some sort of missile into that black hole.  Peter couldn’t, didn’t, know where Ben was, but he could see where Tony Stark got to. He could only hope both came back to him.

One heartbeat, two, then a few more and still the red and gold dot he looked for didn’t emerge.   The hole started to shrink and there, right before it winked out of existence that dot emerged, falling through the sky.   At the same time the sound of chaos cut in half.  No more explosions, just the cries of the injured and the sound of building debris falling.  No more strange alien guns.  Peter didn’t slump back in relief until he saw the green shape of Hulk snatch the falling form of Iron Man out of the air.  

Only then he turned towards May and lean into her embrace.  He could only hope that both his heroes emerged from this day safe from harm.  One had been caught.  Next, they needed to find his uncle.  Even then, after today, Peter didn’t think that anything would ever be the same. 


	4. Never give a terroist your home address

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iron Man 3, 2013

It had been a rough week. While science and math remained easy for him, English, History and Spanish could give him a challenge.  This meant he needed to actually study those subjects.  At times wading through the work for papers for those classes, instead of working on personal projects Peter wanted to do.  It sucked; it wouldn’t stop sucking for years to come.  Not if he wanted to work all the way through his PhD, and earn the access to funding to do so.  Top grades in everything required for that.

Qualifying for special science schools yes worked in his favor.  The jocks of this place tended to be the academic athletes, not physical ones. It didn’t entirely eliminate the jerks of the world.  One in particular apparently took a liking to prodding at Peter.  So yeah, suckfest to try and stay positive and deal with that on top of school work and future worries.

To top it all off it seemed like Peter just kept running into large happy families.  Now he appreciated what he had left.  What little he had left.  But sometimes he felt the absence keenly.  An edge that sliced through his day cutting off light and happiness, leaving him with whatever was left.  Sometimes, life really just sucked.

Peter kept his hoodie up as he trudged home, headphones in place using music to help shut out what he didn’t want to deal of the world.  Aunt May wouldn’t be home yet.  When he let himself in, he headed straight for the couch to flop down and flip on the TV. His normally found a bit of an escape in his troubles by watching the news.  Even if bad things went on in the world, good things happened too.  

But this week even Tony Stark dealt with his own share of troubles.  The news reports conflicted at times at what exactly happened.  Bombs going off, terrorist threats, and someone close to him getting hurt.  Peter watched as they recapped the angry confrontation with the reporters that involved Tony challenging the terrorists by handing out his home address.  Which okay, didn’t seem like the best idea.  

Breaking news flashed on the screen interrupting his train of thought.  Peter leaned forward watching a missile streak towards Tony’s Malibu home.  He knew what it looked like of course.  Yes, a total fanboy if he needed to admit to it.  Not that he stalked the guy, which would be weird.  He just kept up to date on SI achievements, Iron Man actions and other public knowledge type stuff.  Like the spread about his house in one of the magazines.  

His backpack fell to the floor with a thunk as Peter leaned forward.  No. Just no.  This could not be happening.  He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen as it hit in a ball of fire and destruction.  Breath frozen in his chest as he watched the building, start to slide off the cliff and down into the ocean.  He pulled down his headphones as to actually hear what the newscasters reported on.  

The streak of red and gold carrying a woman out of the crumbling building brought a feeling of short-lived relief.  As the story continued to unfold the report came in that the figure inside the armor, not in fact Tony Stark.  For the moment, the billionaire was being listed as missing with crews trying to dredge and search the wreckage.  

Hours later and he still sat there watching the news be rehashed as a weight settled next to him on the couch.  May’s arm settled around him and he leaned sideways into her.  “He, um, Tony Stark is missing.  Stupid, I guess to announce his address and issue a challenge for terrorist to attack him at home.”

May rubbed her nephews arm, trying to figure out the best thing to say.  He’d been struggling lately, they both had to be honest.  Yet, still, he let himself lean on her.  If he still did that, then she had hope that they would be okay in the end.  “Well, people aren’t perfect.  Making mistakes is part of being human.  Ben,” here she faltered a little.  “Well your uncle would always say that it’s not about being perfect.  It’s about what we do after we make a mistake that matters, remember?”

Peter nodded, replying in a rough tone.  “Yeah, taking responsibility and dealing with your mistakes marked the difference between a real adult and someone that’s just pretending.”  

She leaned into Peter a little.  “And haven’t you always said one of the things about Tony Stark that you admired was that he wasn’t perfect and never pretended to be?  That instead he tries to make up for it and help people?”

The youth nodded again. “Yeah, and he always seems to come back, from everything.”  It was one of the things that made it fairly safe to keep admiring Tony Stark.  The guy came back from being missing for three months in the Middle East, he could handle this too.

“So, we’ll wait to see what happens, okay?”  She gave Peter a smile.  Even if only a flicker of one came in return.  “Tell you what, let’s order a pizza and just hang out tonight huh?  I can tell you about my day and we can find the most ridiculous news reports to mock?”

May studied the TV. She couldn’t fix everything, but she could be there for her kid and help him try to find his way through it.  “Also, you now know if you ever become famous, don’t give out your home address to crazy people okay?  Because I fully expect your brain to take you far kid, one of these days one of those news stories is going to be about something important you’ve done to help save the world.”

Peter huffed a laugh and she inwardly counted that as a win.  “Yes to the pizza, but I don’t think I’ll need to worry too much about the second part Aunt May.”

Tugging back his hood to get a better look at his face she smiled at him.  “Trust me kid, you’ll get there someday.  I’m betting on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I hope you guys enjoyed this. I may write some bonus scenes. Because hey its MCU and there are always bonus scenes.


End file.
